Jeopardy’s Ken Jennings!

DANGER! Contestant Lisa Srikin won Tuesday’s episode and won over the masses with her big personality.

Ken Jennings Daily doubled over laughing during her interview, and she caught Final Jeopardy with an instant classic addition.

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One-Day Champion Nicole Rudolph, Associate Dean of Williston Park, New York, took on Lisa, a lawyer from New York, and Mara Lasko, a fundraiser from Washington, D.C.

While the all-out girls’ night turned out to be a close competition, it was Lisa on the leftmost podium who took the lead at the very last moment and left Jeopardy! fans die.

Ken, 48, asked during her Q&A how she came in third place in a ridiculous sounding event.

She recalled: ‘Well my friend and I joined a Hall and Oates music video contest pretending to be Hall and Oates’ – as Ken started laughing.

‘I CAN SEE IT TOTALLY’

Lisa continued: “[We] won third place, but I found out what it’s like to be famous and have haters because I got nasty messages saying I’m nothing like John Oates – which is fake !

Ken lost it then and collected himself to reply, “You think you’re a good enough match for John Oates?”

Lisa defended that she was and framed her face with her hands – “yeah!”

Ken relented: “You’re the John Oates type, I can totally see that.”

From there, Lisa’s gameplay was no joke, but she didn’t take herself too seriously – making relatable emotive facial expressions when clues were missed.

She guessed “Reno 911!” for an index TV show that read as set in Austin – but had just enough revenue to stay on the charts before Final Jeopardy.

Returning champion Nicole had $9,600, Lisa had $5,400 and Mara had $4,200 – which was interesting since both of their scores tied Nicole’s first place score.

“PORT AUTHORITY, PLEASE APPLAUD”

Final Jeopardy under “Transportation USA” read, “This public agency operates the busiest bus terminal in the United States, opened in 1950 to commuters impressed by its polished steel and stone.”

Lisa and Nicole were both right with ‘Port Authority’, and Lisa added fantastic fanfare – she wrote, ‘Port Authority – please clap’, channeling her inner Jeb Bush as the audience clapped in effect.

“Wow, that worked!” said Ken. “You’re going to open a real pandora’s box I think.”

Lisa bet $4,201 – and her score jumped to $9,601 – winning the game with a wide look that was the icing on the cake.

Mara was the only player to miss as she wrote “MTA” and she went from the lead to third place.

“EASILY MY FAVORITE CHAMP THIS SEASON”

As game show viewers felt for Mara, they love the new champion and went crazy on a Reddit thread recounting the episode.

“Lisa is a lovely idiot. I applaud!” a user wrote.

“Not a knock on the other contestants but Lisa was so much fun I’m glad she won and we can see her perform tomorrow,” said another.

A third wrote: “Lisa is entertaining as hell. I hate it when people are deadpan when they get clues wrong.”

And a fourth: “Heartbroken for Nicole, I liked her but I also like Lisa’s personality and I’m glad we can see her more tomorrow!”

A fifth person called the new champion: “by far my favorite champion of the season”.

“Absolutely. It was one of the most entertaining games overall, but Lisa was the life of the party,” wrote a sixth user.

Another clapped: ‘That was a fun Jeopardy’ while another wrote: ‘Didn’t see this result coming!’

The big hit and Lisa’s return comes as there have been no female candidates to qualify for the September 2023 Tournament of Champions this season.

Seventy-four-time winner Ken and 47-year-old Mayim Bialik were announced as successors to the late Alex Trebek over the summer.

Ken hosts until April 28, when Mayim will return on May 1 and complete the final four months of the season.

Fans will get even more from Ken as he hosts Jeopardy! Masters, a 20-episode primetime round robin on ABC.

The special airs from May 8 – it includes legends like James Holzhauer, Amy Schneider and Mattea Roach.

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